American Council for Judaism
Encyclopedia
The American Council for Judaism (ACJ) is an organization of American Jews committed to the proposition that Jews are not a nationality but merely a religious group, adhering to the original stated principles of Reform Judaism
, as articulated in the 1885 Pittsburgh Platform
.
The ACJ was founded in June 1942 by a group of Reform rabbis who opposed the direction of their movement, including, but not limited to, the issue of Zionism
as redefined by the Biltmore Program in May 1942. After the Reform movement declared itself officially neutral on Zionism in 1937, the split was prompted by the passage of a resolution endorsing the raising of a "Jewish army" in Palestine
to fight alongside the Allies of World War II
. The leading rabbis included Louis Wolsey, Morris Lazaron, Abraham Cronbach
, David Philipson
, and Henry Cohen
but their most vocal representative soon became Elmer Berger
, who became the Council's Executive Director.
The presidency of the ACJ was accepted by the well-known philanthropist Lessing J. Rosenwald
, who took the lead in urging the creation of a unitary democratic state in the British Mandate of Palestine in American policy making circles. Though up against overwhelming support for the creation of a Jewish state in Congress
, the Council had many friends who supported its position in the State Department such as Sumner Welles
and Dean Acheson
. In the final year before the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, the Council became very close to Judah Magnes, the leading Israeli advocate for a binational state, who had returned to America for fear of his life in Palestine.
Though Louis Wolsey resigned from the Council after the founding of the State of Israel, the ACJ persevered, believing that its primary foe was the influence of Zionism upon American Judaism. In addition to supporting a network of religious schools committed to Classical Reform Judaism, the Council agitated against the merging of Zionist fundraising organizations with local Jewish community boards, and enjoyed friendly relations with the Eisenhower
State Department under John Foster Dulles
. The ACJ also vocally supported the efforts of William Fulbright to have the lobbyists for Israel in the United States legally registered as foreign agents.
Support for the American Council for Judaism came primarily from Jews of German descent who were historically attached to Classical Reform Judaism, but also from many Jewish socialists who opposed Zionism, and many more of whom who were uncomfortable with the Jewish religion coalesced around William Zukerman and his Jewish Newsletter. Jewish intellectuals who at one time or another passed through the Council included David Riesman
, Hans Kohn
, Erich Fromm
, Hannah Arendt
, Will Herberg
, Morrie Ryskind
, Frank Chodorov
, and Murray Rothbard
. Among the notable gentile friends of the Council were Dorothy Thompson
, Norman Thomas
, Freda Utley
, Arnold J. Toynbee
, and Dwight MacDonald
. The ACJ was particularly influential in San Francisco
The ACJ sharply declined in activity following the Six Day War in 1967, when the American Jewish community was swept up by overwhelming support for Israel. Moderates within the Council forced Elmer Berger to resign the following year for declaring that Israel had been the primary aggressor in the war. While the Council had 14,000 members in 1948 and up to 20,000 in the 1950s, there are today an estimated 2,000 subscribers to the Council's quarterly newsletter.
The organization publishes a magazine called Issues.
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
, as articulated in the 1885 Pittsburgh Platform
Pittsburgh Platform
The Pittsburgh Platform is a pivotal 19th century document in the history of the American Reform Movement in Judaism that called for Jews to adopt a modern approach to the practice of their faith...
.
The ACJ was founded in June 1942 by a group of Reform rabbis who opposed the direction of their movement, including, but not limited to, the issue of Zionism
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
as redefined by the Biltmore Program in May 1942. After the Reform movement declared itself officially neutral on Zionism in 1937, the split was prompted by the passage of a resolution endorsing the raising of a "Jewish army" in Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
to fight alongside the Allies of World War II
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
. The leading rabbis included Louis Wolsey, Morris Lazaron, Abraham Cronbach
Abraham Cronbach
Abraham Cronbach was an American Rabbi, teacher and known pacifist. He served as a rabbi for congregations in Indiana and Ohio. Cronbach was one of the founders of the Peace Heroes Memorial Society.-Personal life:...
, David Philipson
David Philipson
David Philipson was an American Reform rabbi, orator, and author. The son of German-Jewish immigrants, he was a member of the first graduating class of the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati. As an adult, he was one of the leaders of American Reform Judaism and a philanthropic leader in his...
, and Henry Cohen
Henry Cohen (rabbi)
Henry Cohen was a Jewish Texan rabbi who served Congregation B'nai Israel in Galveston, Texas from 1888 to 1952.-History in Galveston:...
but their most vocal representative soon became Elmer Berger
Elmer Berger (rabbi)
Elmer Berger was a Jewish Reform rabbi widely known for his anti-Zionism. He was the executive director of the American Council for Judaism from its founding in 1942 until 1955...
, who became the Council's Executive Director.
The presidency of the ACJ was accepted by the well-known philanthropist Lessing J. Rosenwald
Lessing J. Rosenwald
Lessing Julius Rosenwald was an American businessman, a collector of rare books and art, and a chess patron.-Biography:...
, who took the lead in urging the creation of a unitary democratic state in the British Mandate of Palestine in American policy making circles. Though up against overwhelming support for the creation of a Jewish state in Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
, the Council had many friends who supported its position in the State Department such as Sumner Welles
Sumner Welles
Benjamin Sumner Welles was an American government official and diplomat in the Foreign Service. He was a major foreign policy adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and served as Under Secretary of State from 1937 to 1943, during FDR's presidency.-Early life:Benjamin Sumner Welles was born in...
and Dean Acheson
Dean Acheson
Dean Gooderham Acheson was an American statesman and lawyer. As United States Secretary of State in the administration of President Harry S. Truman from 1949 to 1953, he played a central role in defining American foreign policy during the Cold War...
. In the final year before the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, the Council became very close to Judah Magnes, the leading Israeli advocate for a binational state, who had returned to America for fear of his life in Palestine.
Though Louis Wolsey resigned from the Council after the founding of the State of Israel, the ACJ persevered, believing that its primary foe was the influence of Zionism upon American Judaism. In addition to supporting a network of religious schools committed to Classical Reform Judaism, the Council agitated against the merging of Zionist fundraising organizations with local Jewish community boards, and enjoyed friendly relations with the Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
State Department under John Foster Dulles
John Foster Dulles
John Foster Dulles served as U.S. Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1959. He was a significant figure in the early Cold War era, advocating an aggressive stance against communism throughout the world...
. The ACJ also vocally supported the efforts of William Fulbright to have the lobbyists for Israel in the United States legally registered as foreign agents.
Support for the American Council for Judaism came primarily from Jews of German descent who were historically attached to Classical Reform Judaism, but also from many Jewish socialists who opposed Zionism, and many more of whom who were uncomfortable with the Jewish religion coalesced around William Zukerman and his Jewish Newsletter. Jewish intellectuals who at one time or another passed through the Council included David Riesman
David Riesman
David Riesman , was a sociologist, attorney, and educator....
, Hans Kohn
Hans Kohn
Hans Kohn was a Jewish philosopher and historian. Born in Prague during the Habsburg Empire, he was captured as a prisoner of war during World War I and held in Russia for five years...
, Erich Fromm
Erich Fromm
Erich Seligmann Fromm was a Jewish German-American social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist. He was associated with what became known as the Frankfurt School of critical theory.-Life:Erich Fromm was born on March 23, 1900, at Frankfurt am...
, Hannah Arendt
Hannah Arendt
Hannah Arendt was a German American political theorist. She has often been described as a philosopher, although she refused that label on the grounds that philosophy is concerned with "man in the singular." She described herself instead as a political theorist because her work centers on the fact...
, Will Herberg
Will Herberg
Will Herberg was an American Jewish writer, intellectual and scholar. He was known as a social philosopher and sociologist of religion, as well as a Jewish theologian.-Early life:...
, Morrie Ryskind
Morrie Ryskind
Morrie Ryskind was an American dramatist, lyricist and writer of theatrical productions and motion pictures, who became a conservative political activist later in life.-Biography:...
, Frank Chodorov
Frank Chodorov
Frank Chodorov was an American member of the Old Right, a group of libertarian thinkers who were non-interventionist in foreign policy and anti–New Deal...
, and Murray Rothbard
Murray Rothbard
Murray Newton Rothbard was an American author and economist of the Austrian School who helped define capitalist libertarianism and popularized a form of free-market anarchism he termed "anarcho-capitalism." Rothbard wrote over twenty books and is considered a centrally important figure in the...
. Among the notable gentile friends of the Council were Dorothy Thompson
Dorothy Thompson
Dorothy Thompson was an American journalist and radio broadcaster, who in 1939 was recognized by Time magazine as the second most influential women in America next to Eleanor Roosevelt...
, Norman Thomas
Norman Thomas
Norman Mattoon Thomas was a leading American socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America.-Early years:...
, Freda Utley
Freda Utley
Winifred Utley, commonly known as Freda Utley, was an English scholar, political activist and best-selling author. After visiting the Soviet Union in 1927 as a trade union activist, she joined the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1928...
, Arnold J. Toynbee
Arnold J. Toynbee
Arnold Joseph Toynbee CH was a British historian whose twelve-volume analysis of the rise and fall of civilizations, A Study of History, 1934–1961, was a synthesis of world history, a metahistory based on universal rhythms of rise, flowering and decline, which examined history from a global...
, and Dwight MacDonald
Dwight Macdonald
Dwight Macdonald was an American writer, editor, film critic, social critic, philosopher, and political radical.-Early life and career:...
. The ACJ was particularly influential in San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
The ACJ sharply declined in activity following the Six Day War in 1967, when the American Jewish community was swept up by overwhelming support for Israel. Moderates within the Council forced Elmer Berger to resign the following year for declaring that Israel had been the primary aggressor in the war. While the Council had 14,000 members in 1948 and up to 20,000 in the 1950s, there are today an estimated 2,000 subscribers to the Council's quarterly newsletter.
The organization publishes a magazine called Issues.
External links and further reading
- The American Council for Judaism
- "American Jews Who Reject Zionism Say Events Aid Cause" article by Samuel G. Freedman in The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
June 25, 2010